Maybe I'm waking up today
by cantdrownmydemons22
Summary: Sequal to 'Come Morning Light' Please read the AN in the first chapter.
1. Chapter 1

**AN:** **Yay! I'm finally getting to this. This is the sequel (kinda?) To Come Morning Light. By 'sequel' I mean its all the chapters and things that never made it to the original story.**

 **None of these chapters will really follow up on each other and some will probably go a little AU from the ending of the original story. This is also a book for what you would have liked to see happen in CML, so feel free to leave any prompts.**

 **Like I said, this book is for you guys**

 **-TA-TF-**

 **This one takes place probably while they were at Star Labs.**

"Barry, don't run in the hallway!" Oliver called out after the small body running in front of him. Barry started running faster, pretending to not have heard him. When he turned by the corner his foot slipped on the ground causing him to lose his balance. He landed hard, the sound of impact reaching Oliver's ears. In the blink of an eye he was by Barry's side, helping the kid to sit up. Instead of crying, like Oliver expected, the kid sat holding his jaw with a very confused frown. "Are you okay?"

Barry shifted his jaw a little before glancing up at Oliver with tearful eyes.

"My tooth is loose!" Barry exclaimed, opening his mouth wide to show Oliver how he can wiggle one of his front teeth with his tongue. Glancing around his mouth Oliver noticed that its not the first time Barry seemed to have lost a tooth.

"Don't worry about it. We can just pull it out." Oliver smiled. Barry immediately started protesting against the idea.

"No! Its not loose enough." The kid whimpered, "It'll hurt."

"It won't hurt."

"Yes it will!" the kid started sniffling, scared of the idea. Oliver shifted his body, trying to get the blood flowing through his bent legs and thinking of a different approach .

"Okay, let me look at it at least? See how loose it is?" He asked, trying to keep his voice sincere. Barry shook his head vigorously. Oliver tried again: "I promise all I want to do is look at it."

The kid bit his lip while thinking it over. Eventually he nodded his head, allowing Oliver to look at his tooth. His fingers had just brushed over the kids tooth when Barry pulled back.

"Don't touch it to hard! I don't want it to start hurting." Barry warned his lip trembling slightly, "or it'll start bleeding."

Before the kid could work himself up more Oliver placed a hand on his shoulder .

"Barry, the tooth is already out."

The kid gave him a perplexed look, running his tongue along his gums. When his tongue brushed over the tender spot where his tooth used to be, he gasped in surprise. Oliver held his hand out, palm up, revealing a small white baby tooth in the middle.

"I didn't even feel it!" Barry exclaimed in surprise. Oliver gave a small smile, hoping the kid won't be mad. He didn't have to fear since the small boy only started laughing. "Thank you."

This time the kid smiled with him, proudly showing the gap between his teeth.

 **-TA-TF-**

 **I hope you all enjoyed this little ficlet of what's to come. There's a lot more chapters to come. I just decided to post this short chapter to get the ball rolling.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Missing scene at the ice cream shop**

 **-TA-TF-**

"Ice cream, ice cream, we all scream for ice cream!"

Oliver shook his head fondly as he followed the bundle of energy into the ice cream shop. The kid had sung the song practically non-stop since Oliver had suggested they go get ice cream. The soft pink walls of the shop along with the tacky white and blue furniture made him feel like he stepped into a giant dollhouse. Barry shot straight for the display case, nearly colliding with a wayward chair. Oliver winced. Apparently the kid's adult counterpart's clumsiness doubled when he was younger.

The teenage employee met them with a bright smile, immediately asking what they would like. Barry eagerly pressed his palms on the glass, leaning closer to look at all the flavors. Briefly he wondered if the kid could actually read the tags or was he just staring at colours?

"I can't pick between chocolate or strawberry." The kid whispered, looking like he was forced to pick between the blue or red wire, not knowing which one would defuse the bomb and which one would set it off.

"You could have both?" Oliver suggested. The kid glanced up at him with hopeful eyes.

"Really?!" Barry's excitement made Oliver smile too. The kid nearly jumped with joy when Oliver nodded.

"Do you want a scoop of strawberry and chocolate each ?" the woman asked sweetly, glancing down at Barry who suddenly got shy under the attention. The kid uttered a soft 'yes please'. "And what would you like?" Oliver glanced down at the case, briefly pausing to smile at the sign plastered on the glass surface that read _'Please don't tap on the glass. It scares the ice cream.'_ , before deciding on chocolate.

"Could we get them in cups?" He asked thinking of Joe's car seats. The cups might help keep the melting ice cream from dripping on them.

"You know, strawberry is one of my favourite flavours." The teen said to Barry as she scooped the pink ice cream into a bowl.

"I like chocolate the most," Barry answered, his shyness forgotten, "with those gummy toppings!"

"You sure got a sweet tooth. But you know what two flavours I think personally go great together? Peanut butter and blueberry cheesecake." Barry made a slightly surprised and disgusted noise, scrunching his nose. Instead of being offended the teenager, 'Tessa' her badge read, laughed amused at the kid's opinion. Nonetheless Oliver gave Barry a stern look, saying that his behavior was really mean towards her. Barry immediately apologized, stricken by the fact.

"Don't you worry your little head about it! In fact how would you like some extra gummy toppings on your ice cream?" Tessa leaned over the counter and cupped her hand to hide her mouth from Oliver, stage whispering to Barry: "But not any for the lame adult who only eats boring chocolate."

Barry immediately brightened up, giggling along with the woman. Tessa finished up their order and Oliver paid her before they made their way back out of the shop. Barry waved goodbye, smiling around a mouthful of chocolate ice cream and the promised gummy toppings. Oliver held the shop's door open for Barry, allowing him to pass first. They walked down the sidewalk, making their way back to the car and talked mostly about different desserts. Ginger, who was waiting outside, fell into step beside them. Barry happily ate spoonful after spoonful of his ice cream, accidently letting one scoop drip onto the front of his shirt. They paused so Oliver could dig in his pocket for a napkin, but Ginger beat him to it. With one long lick, the dog managed to steal the bit of ice cream off of Barry's shirt. The kid giggled, batting the dog away from attempting to reach the smeared ice cream on his chin too.

"Ginger, off." Oliver warned, trying to suppress the fond smile fighting to escape. The dog obediently backed down and set back to walking down the street. As he turned to follow he failed to notice that Barry wasn't looking where he was going until the kid accidently smacked into somebody. The guy had gotten out of his parked car and just stepped onto the curb when Barry walked into him.

"Oops!" Barry exclaimed, "I'm sorry."

"I'm okay, really." The slightly familiar looking man insisted, "Are you okay, kid?"

Barry gave a shy nod, rubbing his left elbow in his hand. Oliver's attention stayed on the man until he could place the face- Captain Singh! The Central City police captain and Barry's _boss._

"You know, you kind of remind me of someone when they were about your age." The captain remarked. Barry, the kind kid he is, starts talking with the man.

"Really? Is he a friend of yours?"

"Not exactly. He works for me." The man smiled in a way Oliver was not quite used to seeing in a police captains face, it actually looked friendly, "In fact, you look _exactly_ like him." Now Singh frowned in confusion with just the slightest hint of suspicion.

Crap. Okay distraction.

"I'm sorry for that." Oliver succeeded in drawing the man's attention, pointing at the now ruined shirt sporting a pink stain on front where Barry accidentally spilled ice cream on him. "I'm Oliver by the way."

"Right, no its okay. David." The man shook Oliver's hand, offering his own name. Using his pointer finger Singh rubbed at the spot, effectively making it worse. He gratefully accepted the napkin Oliver held out to him.

"What's your friends name?" Barry asked innocently, making Singh face him again.

"Barry Allen." Oliver cursed silently, hoping against all odds that the kid won't say anything. If the man found out that this was really Barry it would raise way too many questions, ones he had no idea how to even begin answering. Unfortunately nothing was ever accomplished by hope alone and the kid eagerly pointed out the similarities:

"Hey, my name is Bar-"

"-t. Bart. His name is Bart." Oliver cut the kid off. Singh eyed him strangely after his short outburst. Barry frowned up at him too. The kid tried protesting, but he continuously cut him off.

"Nooo. It is Bar-"

"-Bart I know."

"Nobody calls me Bart! Uncle Joe sometimes calls me Bar and-"

"-Okay, Bart! We better get going. The others are probably waiting for us." Oliver barely managed to keep his voice neutral, ignoring Singh's softly muttered 'Uncle Joe?'. "Well we have to go. Sorry for holding you up."

As they were walking away Oliver just managed to catch the man's words:

"Hey Joe. You will never believe what just happened! Did you know there's a kid walking around that looks _just_ like Barry when he was a kid…-"

Oliver winced, hoping Detective West will be able to distract the man better than he had. He glanced back down noticing the kid frowning up at him with arms crossed over his tiny front.

"You're weird." The kid declared. Oliver sighed.

A little later Joe cornered him informing him that he got an interesting phone call from the captain earlier. He also pointed out quite happily that Singh had suspected Oliver of child abduction, based on his strange behavior in the street. It had taken a surprising amount of time for Joe to convince Captain Singh to not put Oliver under surveillance. Joe laughed at Oliver's groan, entertained by the billionaires grumbling of ' _why do all police captains want to lock me up?'_

 **-TA-TF-**


	3. Chapter 3

It was a while before Oliver noticed the familiar red sweatshirt hovering next to him in the kitchen. He glanced down, greeting the kid with a smile, "Hey, did you brush your teeth?"

"Uhm..." The kid mumbled, looking down at his shoes, which he was scuffing against the floor, "No-not yet. There's a...could you? Uhm..." By now the kid was twisting the hem of his sweatshirt between his fingers, looking embarrassed. Oliver frowned down at Barry concerned, but waited patiently for him to calm down. Eventually the kid took a deep breath and managed to string together a coherent sentence; "There's a spider an' I don't wanna touch it. Could you get it?"

Oliver felt himself relax, not even realizing he tensed up in the first place, and nodded. Barry made Oliver follow him until they reached the bathroom.

"Its in there." The kid whispered as if afraid that the spider will hear him and somehow retaliate in revenge. Oliver scanned the walls in search for the culprit, but couldn't find it. He turned a questioning gaze on Barry. The kid, who was hiding behind the doorjamb, slowly brought his hand up pointing to the sink. And there it was. The spider sat perched happily on the faucet. It wasn't all that big, but its furry body made it look more threatening.

"Okay. Just go get me a shoe and I'll kill it." Oliver said, earning a shocked 'No!' from Barry.

"Don't kill it."

"How else am I going to get rid of it?"

"I dunno." Barry mumbled, looking down at his fingers which were still tightly wrapped around the doorjamb. Not for the first time Oliver was left wondering on how this kid worked. It's not always someone wanted to spare the life of an insect- much less one that obviously scared them. It also wasn't Barry's young age that made him reluctant to kill the spider (Oliver remembers all the times Thea had called him to kill a spider in her room when they were little. Whenever he felt like annoying her he would pick the spider up by its legs and chase his little sister with it. Eventually his mother or Raisa would come into the room, after hearing Thea scream bloody murder, and settle them down.) The moment reminded Oliver why he had encouraged the kid to be a hero.

"Go get me a book." Oliver asked, "I won't kill it." He promised when Barry looked up at him with surprised hurt. Hesitating slightly he dashed off to do what was asked. He returned with an old magazine instead of a book. Moving carefully Oliver managed to coach the spider onto the magazine. From there it was a short trip to the window through which he flicked the spider back out. Barry followed him silently, being careful to avoid coming within arm distance of the magazine on which the spider was perched.

"See? All gone and no one got hurt." Oliver said, smiling when the kid beamed up at him. Barry darted in for a quick hug before running back to the bathroom so he could brush his teeth.

"Thank you, Ollie!"

Oliver blinked in surprise hearing the fond nickname coming from the kid. A small smile quirked at the corner of his lips as he looked down fingering the magazine. "No problem, kid." He muttered mainly to himself since the kid was long since out of earshot.

 **-TA-TF-**

 **AN: Just a short note for everyone who left a prompt: I saved them in my notes and I'm working on writing most of them!**


	4. Chapter 4

**AN:** **I'm so sorry KDesai, this is probably not at all what you wanted XD. The chapter was supposed to be more angsty...**

 **I would also like to apologise and add that I have never seen a bear in real life before. They're not native where I live. The closest I've seen a bear is the stuffed one sitting happily on my pillows. And the ones in Brother Bear.**

 **Thanks to everyone who's been reading or reviewing (:**

 **-TA-TF-**

" _Go to the circus!"_ she said, _"It might be fun!"_ she said.

He should have put up more of a struggle when Caitlin handed him a pamphlet for a circus that had recently pitched up their tents in Central City. Should have known better than to fall prey to Barry's pleading eyes and pout. When "tamed" wild animals and goofy painted clowns are involved it could only end in disaster. His gut roiled anxiously at the thought of all the different performers breathing red-hot fire and tossing knives in a tent packed with sweating people. Oliver had come to learn that when knives are thrown, people usually end up as unwilling pin cushions.

But by the end of the show, Oliver reluctantly admitted that the show was better than he expected. He even found himself cheering or holding his breath in awe along with the crowd a few times during the show. So maybe Haley's Circus wasn't as bad as he thought it would be. Plus no one had ended up with a intricate handle neatly jutting out of their chests- there was that. Although having both Cisco and Barry there _was_ as bad as he thought it would be. Barry had adopted Cisco as a pseudo older brother and was constantly trying to either copy the scientist or trying to impress him, which caused a weird sibling rivalry of one-up-man-ship as the two competed in Carny games or ran around in impromptu foot races.

By now Oliver felt both really old and really tired.

"Oliver! Oliver! _OliverOliverOliver-"_

" _Yes,_ Barry?"

The kid grinned undeterred by Oliver's tone. "I havta go to the bathroom." Oliver scanned the crowd that were still filing out of the tent, chattering about the show. He had no idea where the bathrooms were.

"I can take him?" Cisco offered around the straw of his drink, "I saw the bathrooms earlier. Plus-" the older boy added, scrunching up his nose and bouncing on the balls of his feet, "I gotta go too.". Cisco shook the, now empty, Styrofoam cup at the Billionaire. Reluctantly Oliver agreed to let the scientist take Barry, not feeling up to join the excited crowd beginning to fill the area again. They were only a few steps away when the kid asked Cisco to wait. He ran back to Oliver, holding a stuffed monkey up like it was Simba and he was Rafiki.

"Could you hold'em for me?" Oliver gingerly took the stuffed animal from the kid nodding. Barry dashed back to Cisco taking hold of the man's hand.

 **-TA-TF-**

They were walking back from the bathrooms looking at all the different rides. Barry's hand was clasped tightly in Cisco, his arm getting jostled everytime the scientist got excited over the physics of some rides that he was trying to explain. Barry tried paying attention, but Cisco used some words the kid barely understood. Barry's arm got tugged back when Cisco suddenly stopped dead in his tracks. He looked up at the man questioning the sudden stop.

"Dude! They have snowcones. We should so get some." Cisco led them to stand in line with a bunch of other people. Behind the bright yellow stand stood the main tent where all the shows were held. Barry recognised it and scanned the group of people in front looking for Oliver. Slowly he slipped his hand from Cisco so he could take a few steps to the left for a better view. He huffed when he couldn't find the other adult. Something big behind the tent caught his eye. Squinting didn't really help him see any better. He imagined having super-vision that could make him see for miles, but that didn't really help either. He would just have to get closer then. Not taking his eyes of the dark shape, he took off in a slow jog. As he got closer the dark shape got clearer revealing it to be a trailer.

Barry wandered over to the trailer he spotted, feeling drawn to the colourful wood. He ran the tips of his fingers over the flaking paint, following an imaginary path as he walked along the wooden walls. His finger nails lightly scraped over the paint, leaving faint marks in their wake. Suddenly he heard a responding scratch on the other side of the wall. He paused, pulling his hand back in surprise. Had he really heard that? Slowly he brought his hand back up, tapping on the wood again and held his breath. A few seconds later a dull thump answered back once again. Giddiness filled him and he giggled. This went on for another few moments, each time Barry tapped on the wall someone responded from the other side. Soon his curiosity grew and he wanted to see who was in the trailer. Walking around the trailer he searched for a door. He found one on the next wall. Grabbing the handle he pulled as hard as he could, but It wouldn't budge. For a split second he wished Oliver was here, he could open anything! Suddenly his hands slipped and he lost his grip on the handle. He fell back down hard onto the dirt, scraping the palm of his hands. Ignoring the stinging sensation from his hands, he got up and tried again. He glanced up and noticed an old padlock looped around a bolt, effectively locking the door. Barry bit his lip. He could open it, but he had promised Oliver...

A little voice inside his head urged him to open it, never mind the consequences. The voice and natural child like curiosity drowned out the doubt in his head and he stretched up trying to reach the padlock. His fingers grazed the edge. Standing on his tip toes he was able to reach it. The effort left him huffing and he concentrated on doing the Thing. Gently biting on his lip, he stared at his hand and slowly it started to vibrate till it was just a blur. He stuck his tongue out as he focused on the padlock, eyebrows furrowing together each moment that he couldn't get it right. Finally a 'Click' sounded and the padlock fell away. Barry whooped in triumph. This time when he tugged on the handle the door opened.

Peering inside it was too dark to see anything at first. The air inside was a bit musty and smelled of hay and something else Barry couldn't place a name to. As his eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness he became aware of a dark lump on the floor close to where he was tapping on the wood earlier. The lump shifted.

"Hallo?" Barry called out, his tiny voice the only sound within the trailer. The lump shifted again, but this time as if it was turning to face him. A snort sounded and suddenly Barry didn't want to be there anymore. He stepped back down a step outside the trailer. With surprising speed the lump ran towards him. Barry yelped as the sudden weight of the thing crashed into him, knocking him onto his back on the grass. He closed his eyes when he felt something wet sniff at his neck and chin. It snorted, spraying spittle and snot all over him. "Ewww." He whined, not worrying over how the lump might respond to the sound of his voice. It froze and so did Barry.

Peeking one eye open he was met with another brown pair staring back down at him. He opened his other eye so he could see the furry head more clearly. A dark snout and ears were accompanied by the brown eyes. Barry tilted his head to the left staring up at the animal. The furry head tilted mirroring Barry. Barry moved his head to the right. Again the animal mirrored his action. Barry giggled causing the animal to jump back in surprise. Now that the weight was lifted off of his chest, Barry was able to sit up and get a better look at the animal. It was big and brown with a lot of fur. At first he thought it was one of the bears he had seen in the show, but then he noticed this one was a lot smaller than those. The one in the show had been huge! This one seemed to be almost half their size.

"You must be a baby bear, huh?" Barry asked. The baby bear was still big- a lot bigger than Ginger. It carefully walked up closer to Barry, nosing/nuzzling the boy's chest. It tickled every time it took a sniff, but Barry tried to hold back his laugh, in case the noise scared the bear away. The bear continued its curious exploration all over his body and eventually came to a stop at his pants pocket. It poked its snout there, trying to stick her nose inside the pocket.

"S'just an empty wrapper." Barry giggled, trying to push the furry head away. The baby bear made a weird mournful sound when it realized it wasn't getting any treat from there. "Are you hungry?" The bear made an affirmative sound somehow understanding what Barry was asking.

Oliver had given him money earlier to go buy himself some popcorn before the show. Barry had insisted on buying it himself wanting to prove that he was a big kid- he thought that if he proved that he wasn't a baby than Oliver and Cisco would let him go on some of the bigger rides! After he had gotten the snack from the stand he had pocketed the change, forgetting to give it back to Oliver. It was the same change he now pulled out of his pocket. "Let's go get some snacks."

Both the kid and the bear made their way back to the stands. Barry was careful to avoid being seen by anyone, he knew that he would get in trouble if anyone saw him with the baby bear. Pets weren't allowed at the circus, that's what Cisco had said when Barry wanted to bring Ginger with them. So he made sure they stuck to the back of most crowds and hid behind conveniently placed crates if someone happened to glance their way. It was hard trying to keep the bear from taking things off the stands or wandering out from their hiding spots. Eventually Barry made it to the stand that sold hotdogs. Barry hid the bear in a gap between a trailer and a row of barrels. He calmly explained to the bear that it needed to wait for him here, while he went to go buy snacks. Barry only made it a few steps, when he heard baby bear following him. He stopped, turning around to face the bear,

"No, you havta stay here!" Barry instructed, pushing the bear backwards till she was back in the gap, "I'll be right back."

Barry took a few steps backwards, not glancing away from the bear. He stopped when it tried walking after him again. "No baby bear! Stay!" the bear stopped, then slowly started backing away into the gap "Good girl. Stay!"

Barry dashed to the stand, not wanting to stay away too long. He quickly rattled off his order, making sure to say please and thank you, and the man at the stand gave him two hotdogs on separate paper plates. When he finished paying the man, Barry ran back to the hideout. The bear was sitting slumped exactly where he had left it. Barry offered one hotdog to the bear, placing it on the ground in front of it. He ate his own as he watched the baby bear trying to figure out how to eat the strange, new food.

"What're you doing?" a new voice asked startling him. Barry glanced around, but couldn't spot the owner of the voice. "Up 'ere!" Barry looked up spotting another kid sitting on the roof of the trailer.

"Why are you up there?" Barry asked.

"I asked you a question first." The kid replied, smirking down at him.

"I asked you second!"

The other kid laughed, before flipping down from the roof to land gracefully on the ground next to Barry. His eyes widened watching the kid. If he ever tried something like that his parents would be mad and afraid he would get hurt. The strange kid looked about Barry's age, if a bit shorter, with raven locks that hung off his forehead, partly obscuring his eyes.

"I'm Dick! Why're you walking with Ioana?" he asked pointing to the bear. Barry shrugged not sure how to answer that.

"My name's Barry. Ioana is a strange name for a bear." This time Dick shrugged. They watched as the bear finished her hotdog and started playfully tearing the paper plate into pieces. Barry giggled when one of the pieces got stuck on Ioana's nose. The bear shook her head and snorted trying to dislodge the paper. It used one of its front feet to paw at her snout.

"Would you like a bite?" Barry asked, holding out half of his hotdog. Dick nodded, taking the offered food and biting a massive chunk out of the bread.

"Why are you here alone?" Dick asked around a mouthful of food as he handed the hotdog back. Barry narrowed his eyes, mimicking a look he saw Oliver make all the time.

"You ask a lot of questions."

"M'just asking. Little kids shouldn't walk around alone."

"I'm not a little kid! 'Sides you're the same age as me!" Barry defended, glaring when the other kid smirked. He grew nervous when Dick said that he only wanted to warn him of the danger. "What danger?"

"They say that there's this monster that walks around the circus looking for Lil' kids to snatch."

"Nah ah!" Barry exclaimed, feeling himself getting scared, "You're lying. Monsters aren't real."

"They are! I've seen 'em. The Monster catches lost kids an' takes 'em back to his lair filled with bones an' stuff." Dick replied. He stepped closer lowering his voice into a conspiratorial tone; "Once he has you in his lair he strings you upside down by your ankles. And when he gets hungry he comes back and eats you! They say you can hear him coming 'cause of all the hissing. He has snakes growing outta his back." By the end of Dick's story both boys felt a tingle of fear in their stomachs , but they tried looking brave in front of each other. Neither one of them wanting to admit to being scared. It wasn't till a 'thump' and 'hiss', sounded behind the row of barrels that they're façades broke. They yelped, jumping away. Without missing a beat they took off running, the bear following behind them. Dick took the lead, weaving through the crowd a lot easier than Barry. They heard the people they had passed shrieking in terror behind them, immediately thinking that the crowd must be seeing the monster chasing after them. (They didn't consider the fact that the bear was running with them and people were actually scared of the animal.)

Eventually they came to a stop behind the big tent where all the shows were held. Both of them were flushed and panting from exertion. Barry glanced behind them to see if the monster had caught up to them, but he didn't see anyone behind them. He frowned looking around for the brown bear.

"Where's Ioana?" Barry asked, glancing at his new friend. Dick scanned their surroundings. When he couldn't spot the bear he shrugged. They must've lost her somewhere in the crowd. Barry felt concerned for Ioana. What if the monster had gotten her?

"Don't worry. She's my uncle's bear. He'll protect her." Dick reassured him. Barry gaped. He wished he could have a bear for a pet. It would be so cool! Unfortunately he knew his dad would never allow it since he always said that wild animals should never live in the city. Which is exactly what he told Dick.

"My uncle doesn't live in the city! He's in the circus an' so am I." The other kid grinned proudly. At first Barry didn't believe him, but then Dick hadn't lied to him before...

"That's so cool! I wish I could be in the circus."

"Why don't you? You should join!" Dick suddenly perked up in excitement, "We can do shows together and go on adventures." The other kid grinned like it was the best idea ever. Barry laughed excited at what the kid said. "It would be fun having another kid to play with when we're on the road." Barry frowned when he heard that. He hadn't thought of that. The idea of leaving his parents and Uncle Joe and Oliver and all his new friends behind made him sad. Especially his parents. He loved them too much to leave them behind and the idea of not having his mother around to take care of him when he's sick or afraid saddened him more.

"I can't leave my family." Barry mumbled. The other kid's enthusiasm dwindled a little at the confession. A strange feeling in his chest made him feel like he should apologize. Before he could say anything Dick shrugged.

"S'okay. We can still be friends." The other kid was smiling again. "Wanna go meet my family?"

And that's exactly what they did. Dick dragged him all around the circus to meet everyone of the performers. First they went to meet two of the clowns, who were still in costume and showed both boys a couple magic tricks that they had learned from the magician, then as they were looking at all the circus animals walking around their pens, they met the snake charmer and her little _cupcake._ Cupcake was a albino Burmese python twisting part way up her leg and over a crate of animal feed. He was by no standards "little" seeing as he reached about 20-feet in length easily. Barry felt uneasy being close to the snake, still thinking of Dick's story about the Monster who ate kids. When the snake let out a loud hiss, Barry felt about ready to run again.

Eventually they made their way to the trailers where a lot of the circus performers lived. When Barry heard that there was a woman who could read fortunes he immediately wanted to meet her. He's never met someone who could see the future before! There were so many questions he wanted to ask her like what presents will he get for Christmas?

"Richard?" a lady who just stepped out of the trailer they passed called out. Dick whirled around saying something in a language he didn't understand. When the lady opened her arms the other kid stepped into the embrace for a hug. She must be Dick's mother since that was a motherly hug, Barry knows because his mother always gave hugs like that. For some reason his stomach got heavy and his throat closed up at the thought. Suddenly he really missed his mom. "Is he your new friend?" The lady asked, smiling kindly at Barry.

"Yeah! His name's Barry." Dick said. Barry gave a small wave returning the lady's smile. "We're looking for the fortune teller!"

"She's working now, Richard. Don't bother the old woman. Where are your parents?" she aimed the last question at Barry. Guilt flooded him when he was reminded of his two companions he accidentally lost. He didn't mean to wander off for so long! Oliver and Cisco must be worried about him by now. As if reading his thoughts the woman held out her hand for Barry to take, "Come on. Let's get you back to them."

It only took a couple minutes to find Oliver and Cisco. Both were incredibly relieved to have found him, which made Barry feel even worse.

"M'sorry. I didn't mean to."

"Dude! Don't ever do that again. I thought some creepo child snatcher got you. Or worse, the bear!" Cisco gestured his arms wildly has he spoke, nearly hitting Oliver on the nose with the stuffed monkey the billionaire had won at one of the game stands. Barry hunched his shoulders trying to shrink in on himself.

"It's okay, Barry. We'll talk about it later. All that matters is that you're safe here." Oliver soothed the abashed child. "Thank you for your help." This he said to Dick's mother, who waved of his apology.

"Happens all the time. Kids get distracted by all the things they see around here and tend to get lost."

They bid their goodbyes, Barry promising to come visit his new friend whenever the circus is back in town.

"Next time you see me, I'll be swinging on the trapeze!" The other kid had yelled as his mom led him away.

 **-TA-TF-**


End file.
